Forestry Public Private Partnerships

Forestry Public Private Partnerships

IORA has developed a singular platform for building partnerships for forestry that help leverage resources from a public and private sector and channelizing them into interventions for forest conservation and enhancement, identified through scientific research using various methodologies, tools, and techniques. This platform is designed to focus on geographical areas, pressures on forests and other environmental resources, developmental needs of the communities and mandates of the investing partners.

Partnerships to support forestry interventions are formulated by IORA with a comprehensive approach to ensure that sufficient resources are leveraged for each aspect of the intervention, including planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting. Simultaneously, IORA aims to create a self-sustainable system for each intervention that can continue to support the initiative in the long run.

PROJECTS

Partnership for Green Madhya Pradesh

A large scale afforestation was undertaken in Madhya Pradesh in partnership with Madhya Pradesh Government, Mahindra Sanyo Special Steel Private Limited (MSSSPL). MP Forest Department, and Forest-PLUS. As part of this project, MSSSPL developed a nursery of Bamboo, Teak and Sheesham (Indian Rosewood) plants over a period of one year with the help of training and support provided by IORA (as Forest-PLUS partner). Upon maturity, 42,000 saplings / rhizomes were transported to Harda and Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh where district administration provided land, labour and inputs for plantation and maintenance of 6000 plants. Remaining 36,000 saplings were planted by farmers on their agricultural land to practice agro-forestry. Government of MP and Forest Department have committed to ensure health of the plantation over the next three years. Based on the success of the initiative, MSSSPL has renewed its commitment for the next five years.

Promotion of Smokeless Biomass Briquetting in Sikkim

The project is a pilot scale intervention being implemented by NABARD in collaboration with IORA (as Forest-PLUS implementation partner) to promote production and use of biomass briquetting in rural households in Sikkim. With support from NABARD, the project aims to reduce dependence on communities on fuelwood by providing alternative clean source of energy i.e. bio-briquettes. Under this project, 300 people across East Sikkim were trained on using bio-briquetting moulds. Out of these, 30 beneficiaries (Self-Help Groups and Women Self-Help Groups) were given moulds for free for production of briquettes for self-consumption and / or sale for generating income. The briquettes generated with the use of biomass waste are smokeless, and therefore help its users avoid health risks associated with inhalation of smoke during burning of fuelwood. These can be used readily for cooking, heating, and commercial purposes such as large cardamom drying and in industrial boilers.

Based on the success of the project, bio-briquetting will be proposed to various government agencies, banks, private sector partners for its uptake as a clean technology and support the implementation of this technology at a large scale across rural India.

Location

Sikkim

Duration

2016 – 2017

Client Name

NABARD, Forest-PLUS Program

Partnership for Beneficiary Identification in Madhya Pradesh

As part of the convergence platform, various departments in Hoshangabad and Harda districts suggested schemes that can directly or indirectly support the goal of forest protection and enhancement and help in implementation of REDD+ interventions. Such schemes can help reduce the pressures on forests by providing alternative livelihood and skill development, clean fuel, clean technology, fodder development, and support agriculture and agro-forestry. In this context, IORA undertook beneficiary identification exercise in 36 villages in Hoshangabad and Harda district in collaboration with District Administration wherein more than 200 potential beneficiaries were identified through focused group discussions and questionnaires. The data was cleaned, analysed and submitted to the district administration in both districts. Using this data, the departments are reaching out to the beneficiaries to complete their application process and disburse funds / provide trainings to the shortlisted beneficiaries as per their eligibility.

Location

Madhya Pradesh

Duration

2016 – 2017

Client Name

Government of Madhya Pradesh, Forest-PLUS Program

'Forests are Life' Campaign

IORA developed an awareness campaign ‘Forests are Life’ to commemorate the International Day of Forests on 21st of March in partnership with Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, USAID, Forest-PLUS Program, JC Decaux (outdoor media partner) and Vertiver (design partner). The campaign was launched in 2015 and was officially inaugurated in 2016 by MoEFCC in a consultation for public and private sector partners. Forests are Life is a unique campaign that uses Indian folk art to communicate the benefits and ecosystems services provided by forests. Campaign visuals were displayed on outdoor media sites across New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. Owing to the success of the campaign, the campaign was extended by 4-6 months instead of the originally committed 2 months in 2015 and 2016.